After Cannes: El-Gouna to host MENA premiere of Sudanese film Goodbye Julia

Ahram Online , Sunday 14 May 2023

El-Gouna Film Festival (GFF) will host the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) premiere of Goodbye Julia, the first Sudanese film to be screened at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Goodbye Julia
A shot from the first trailer of Goodbye Julia, first Sudanese film to be screened at the Cannes Film

 

Written and directed by Mohamed Kordofani in his debut feature, Goodbye Julia will premiere at Cannes on 20 May, as part of the Un Certain Regard section.

The MENA premiere will be held during the sixth edition of the GFF that is returning after one-year hiatus, between 12 to 20 October at the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna, Egypt.

Goodbye Julia is produced by Station Films’ Amjad Abu Alala, an acclaimed Sudanese filmmaker who directed Sudan's first-ever Academy Award submission, You Will Die at Twenty, in collaboration with Mohamed Al-Omda.

Goodbye Julia’s cast includes Eiman Yousif, Siran Riak, Nazar Goma and Ger Duany.

The film tells the story of Mona, a retired north Sudanese singer who after covering up a murder, tries to make amends by taking in the deceased’s south Sudanese widow, Julia, and her son, Daniel, into her home.

Gouna submissions still open

GFF is one of the leading film event in the MENA that screens films from a variety of genres and various countries. It also connects filmmakers from the region to international horizons.

The festival is still accepting submissions for the sixth edition’s competitions that include; long and short feature and documentary categories. Eligible filmmakers can apply through the festival website before 12 August.

Moreover, projects in development phase still have an opportunity to submit their project for CineGouna Platform until 1 August.

This year’s festival is under the helm of director Intishal Al-Tamimi while the executive director is Amal El-Masry.

The El Gouna festival was co-founded by businessmen Naguib Sawiris and Samih Sawiris in 2017.

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